Tag: grit

By far the largest house, Keen are gifted with any talents useful in the gaseous environment. Dealing with the classical element of air, they are often involved with gas mining or with the persistent monitoring of gas swells and other storms. A great number of Keen Houses are found with the Eminar living below the vapor line. Possibly the most utilitarian of the Houses, they tend to be work oriented with much to keep them busy on a normal day. Above the vapor line, the houses do have the responsibility of monitoring gas swells in most cities and maintain the alarm system.

Granted Power: Keen can sense gas swells and storms of all fashions one minute before hand per point of WISDOM. In addition, all penalties due to storms are halved.

The House of Beyan, along with the other three houses that deal with the classical elements, are numerous compared to other houses and have more mundane purposes. The House of Beyan, while associated strongly with earth, more accurate deals with all physical materials. Another way to look at it is that they have affinity and understanding of things in the solid state. They are farmers, gardeners and arborists but also stone masons, machinists and architects. Eapon is a hard planet to live on, and people seek out Beyans to build their homes, establish their orchards and quarry precious metals. Their temples and churches are found in every setting and of every manner. More often than not, they are a form of regulatory authority and labor agency, particularly if an area lacks other forms of government. On a spiritual level they tend towards family-like atmospheres, supplementing and supporting existing communities rather than forming a core. They number second only to the House of Keen.

Granted Power: Beyan’s ignore terrain penalties to movement while on foot and once per game session can double the damage dealt to anything they sunder.

Shillelagh: Cudgel or quarterstaff becomes +1 weapon and deals damage as if two sizes larger.

The House of Arocon is concerned with the preservation of knowledge from the past age and cataloguing the present age. Unsurprising their temples and building often serve as a type of library, while many who are part of the House run actual libraries or deal in information. While some may view them as purely academic,there are a significant numbers who scour all the globe in search of lost knowledge or to discover new knowledge. As would be expected a large number of Wardens belong to the House of Arocon.

Granted Power: Autodidact: Once per game session the player may substitute their levels in the House for a bonus to ANY skill roll, even if they do not have ranks in a trained skill.

The House of Holma is the branch tasked with healing. Despite what would be expected, Holma is one of the most highly criticized Houses. Naturally, their abilities are in high demand which has often made them the targets of extortion, kidnapping and bribery. Due to those realities they are secretive and mostly nomadic. Their own temples are unmarked, located in difficult to reach areas or out of sight in dark alleys. These serve as reprieves and safe houses for them. Everywhere they go they are in high demand if their GIFT is discovered. Instead, they work with the other Houses and travel to where they are needed for a few days before moving onto the next.

GM Note: Holma is intended to be a difficult House to play. If the PC’s identity is discovered they will be pursued. Sometimes the need is legitimate and sometimes it is born out of greed. The player should feel cautious any time they reveal their GIFT

Granted Power: Once per game session the character can use any talent they have without fuel or tokens.

Cure Light Wounds: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5).

Neutralize Poison: Immunizes subject against poison, detoxifies venom in or on subject.

Guild member R.C. Brooks returns with more Lands in the Clouds, a home-brewed OGL setting and system.

The House of Ascen, or simply Ascen, is the sect devoted to that which is good. More specifically, good is that which edifies. It heals the soul. In the world they are often the shelter for those dealing with grief and loss. Mechanically they are the House that deals with SPIRIT damage and combating evil entities. The House of Holma may heal the body, but SPIRIT wounds are more dangerous and can fester.

Typical temples are humble buildings often in poor or otherwise troubled areas as that is where they are needed most. Almost all carry low level tokens.

Once per game session, a character of the House of Ascen may use his SPIRIT score as an attack, defense or damage reduction vs SPIRIT opponents/damage.

Ascen Tokens:

Protection from Evil: +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders.

Great Houses

In ages past, when the Harbingers made landfall at Cloudhead, they brought the GIFTS with them. Since that day, people in the solar system have discovered special abilities given to them. The GIFTS were to help the people thrive together and to fight against the evils which had implanted themselves into the solar system. People bearing similar GIFTS gathered together and formed what now are referred to as Houses. These Houses are not geographical distinctions, but rather talent distinctions. There are 12 Great Houses representing the most prominent GIFTS. There are unrepresented GIFTS, but they are exceedingly rare.

The Houses function like churches. The Houses are most like religious organizations and all share the same faith but pursue the tenets through the GIFTS they have. There are different sects within each House but they largely share the same principles and work towards the same goals. Read more

SPIRIT

SPIRIT is a new stat in LitC. Spirit reflects a character’s growth and presence in the spirit world. SPIRIT works much like CONSTITUTION except it applies to SPIRIT damage, which adds STRESS to a character. SPIRIT attacks seek to break a character (see FLIPPED OUT under STRESS). At that point the character is susceptible to manipulation and/or compulsion. A functional spiritual entity may be content enough to drive a character away. Malevolences will often seek to possess or consume a compromised character. A character with a high SPIRIT score has a hardness versus SPIRIT damage according to their bonus.

Similarly a character adds a bonus to SPIRIT damage dealt to spiritual entities.

Losing SPIRIT

Losing SPIRIT can happen through inaction in adventures. A critical event that a character chooses to avoid, most often having moral or ethical implications, will cause a loss of 1 point of SPIRIT. Much like an alignment shift in other games, it should be made clear to the player that a loss of SPIRIT will occur if they choose inaction in an important moment.

Alignment

Alignment in Lands in the Clouds is simplified with an optional rules mechanic of Soul Points and Rage Points. The other distinctions are left to the character in-game as benevolence or malevolence as defined by their actions. Every adventure has opportunities for characters to change their outlook. Aspiring towards benevolent goals in critical moments may reward characters with a type of bonus GRIT. In a setting where the spirit world is close at hand, the condition of a soul is harder to hide and is defined by action, not just outlook.

SOUL POINTS and RAGE POINTS are optional and can be excluded if the rules are cumbersome.

Soul Points

Characters that complete crucial SOUL POINT goals gain 1 soul point. SOUL POINTS can be used in place of GRIT for critical successes in most situations unless the action is knowingly evil in nature. They are also used to power GIFTS. SOUL POINTS are also first consumed in spirit based attacks before any other damage can be dealt, so they act as a type of hitpoint for encounters in the spirit world.

Rage Points

RAGE POINTS are generated any time a character suffers a critical attack or fails at a SOUL POINT opportunity. RP can be spent on critical successes as SOUL POINTS, but not GIFTS. They can also amplify damage, adding 1d6 damage per RAGE POINT to damage of successful attacks. The danger of RAGE POINTS are how they are amplified with STRESS and more vulnerable to manipulation.

Any time a character’s RAGE POINTS exceed their wisdom, they seek to unload the overwhelming emotional duress. Any time there is contention, make a Willpower saving throw based on the number of RAGE POINTS + STRESS. Success, the character keeps it bottled up. Failure results in the character in lashing out at the one with whom they are in contest. A second Willpower save that is successful means that the character can limit their anger to a verbal tirade or general insults. Thereafter their opponent reacts to them as 2 steps lower in reaction. That may result in a fight, which is ultimately what the character seeks. A critical failure on this save means the character has snapped and physically attacks their opponent. If their opponent is a friend, they may channel their anger to an inanimate object if a second will save is successful.

The Lands in the Clouds setting and the GRIT system are provided as a showcase of the work of a CGG member. The Guild takes no official position on the suitability or appropriateness of any game or supplement.

STRESS

Eminar woman resting to heal her body and recover clarity.

STRESS is a mechanic which represents characters pushing beyond their physical limitations. For every 1 point of STRESS, a character is -1 to attack, armor class, saving throws, stat checks and skill checks. A character reduces the STRESS penalty by their WISDOM bonus. So it is not uncommon for some characters to carry a limited amount of STRESS without adverse effect. If a character has more STRESS points than their WISDOM attribute, they will become unstable and may go mad, endangering themselves or friends. If a character has more STRESS than WISDOM they must make a will saving throw each time they accrue additional STRESS, including their current STRESS penalties. If they succeed, they keep everything in check. If they fail, they suffer a mental break, reacting wildly. See the FLIPPED OUT chart.

Accruing STRESS

GRIT

GRIT is the currency of the game for character advancement. It represents determined intent. You use it to buy all mechanical facets of the character, such as stats, skills, hit points, etc… GRIT can also be used to purchase instant rewards such as critical successes, use of GIFT techniques and other similar actions.